{"id":304617,"date":"2025-11-24T22:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304617\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T22:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:23:10","slug":"study-shows-welfare-spending-tops-neighbors-dw-11-24-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304617\/","title":{"rendered":"Study shows welfare spending tops neighbors \u2013 DW \u2013 11\/24\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skip next section German actor Udo Kier dies at 81<\/a><\/p>\n

11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025German actor Udo Kier dies at 81<\/p>\n

\"FilmfestivalKier, pictured here in the 2019 film Bacurau, was noted for his strking green eyesImage: Marechal Aurore\/ABACA\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

The German actor and Hollywood veteran Udo Kier has died at the age of 81 in the Californian resort city of\u00a0Palm Springs.<\/p>\n

Kier appeared in more than 250 film and television productions, including the 1994 comedy “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”\u00a0and the 1998 blockbuster “Armageddon.”<\/p>\n

Known for his intense gaze and distinctive green eyes, he was often cast as eccentric or unsettling characters \u2014 among them a Nazi lunar leader in the 2012 cult film “Iron Sky.”<\/p>\n

Read more about the life and career of Udo Kier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/548fT<\/p>\n

Skip next section Snow and ice cause deadly crashes in southern Germany<\/a><\/p>\n

11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025Snow and ice cause deadly crashes in southern Germany<\/p>\n

Snow and icy roads triggered numerous traffic accidents across Germany<\/a>, leaving four people dead and many others injured, police said Monday.<\/p>\n

On a highway\u00a0in the southeastern state of Bavaria<\/a>, three men aged 36 and 51 were killed overnight when a truck skidded on a snow-covered stretch in the Schwandorf district, north of the city of Regensburg.<\/p>\n

The vehicle\u00a0hit the central barrier and caused a chain of collisions involving two trucks and a van. Two people were seriously injured and at least one more suffered minor injuries. The highway toward Munich was closed, with recovery work expected to last until Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

In the southwestern state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg<\/a>, a 68-year-old driver died on the highway near Geisingen after skidding on an icy section, hitting another vehicle and a guardrail. The second driver was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Heavy snowfall also caused numerous accidents in Lower Bavaria, where police logged nearly 30 crashes between 5 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., mostly resulting in property damage. Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia also reported multiple incidents, largely minor.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/548tr<\/p>\n

Skip next section Lula jokes about trying German food after spat with Merz<\/a><\/p>\n

11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025Lula jokes about trying German food after spat with Merz<\/p>\n

\"SauerkrautLula said he planned to try out sauerkraut and sausages the next time he visits GermanyImage: DW<\/p>\n

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva<\/a> says he plans to try classic German dishes on his next visit, after a diplomatic spat \u2014 and a warm reconciliation<\/a> \u2014 with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over comments about the Amazon city of Bel\u00e9m.<\/p>\n

“When I arrive in Germany, I\u2019ll eat sauerkraut, pork knuckle, sausages at the street stalls. Because I don\u2019t travel to another country to eat feijoada,”\u00a0Lula said at a press conference during the G20 summit in Johannesburg. Feijoada, a bean stew, is considered Brazil’s national dish.<\/p>\n

Lula accused Merz of not being mentally present during their earlier meeting in Belem. “I told him that our head thinks where our feet stand,”\u00a0Lula said. “He came to Brazil, but his head stayed in Berlin.”<\/p>\n

Merz had attended a summit in Belem more than two weeks ago at the start of the UN climate conference. After returning to Germany, he described the delegation as being glad to leave “the place where we were,”\u00a0a comment widely seen in Brazil as dismissive of the impoverished city.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/54902<\/p>\n

Skip next section Survey shows strong Berlin opposition to Olympic bid<\/a><\/p>\n

11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025Survey shows strong Berlin opposition to Olympic bid<\/p>\n

A large majority of Berliners oppose a bid for the Summer Olympics<\/a>, according to a Civey survey commissioned by the Tagesspiegel newspaper.<\/p>\n

The poll found that 67%\u00a0reject a bid for 2036, 2040 or 2044, while 27%\u00a0support the city Senate’s plans to go ahead with it, with the rest\u00a0undecided.<\/p>\n

The results are likely to intensify the debate over the\u00a0state government’s\u00a0Olympic initiative, especially as the group NOlympia, which is opposed to the games,\u00a0plans to launch a campaign ahead of any referendum.<\/p>\n

A potential vote would likely not take place before 2027, meaning it would come after the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) selects a national candidate city in autumn 2026. For Berlin, that timing poses a clear risk: the city could be chosen first, only for voters to reject the bid afterward.<\/p>\n

Alongside Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia<\/a>, Munich<\/a> and Hamburg<\/a> are also preparing bids to host future Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The DOSB is expected to decide on the German candidate next autumn.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/548DA<\/p>\n

Skip next section Germany spends more on welfare than neighbors, study finds<\/a><\/p>\n

11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025Germany spends more on welfare than neighbors, study finds<\/p>\n

Germany spends a larger share of its public budget on social security than any of its European neighbours, according to a study from the Cologne-based German Economic Institute (IW).<\/p>\n

The employer-aligned institute said 41% of Germany\u2019s total expenditure goes to social programs, with nearly half of that devoted to old-age pensions. Nordic countries<\/a>, as well as Austria<\/a> and Switzerland<\/a>,\u00a0spend about 40%, while the Benelux states \u2014 Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg\u00a0\u2014 allocate about 38%. The EU average stands at 39%.<\/p>\n

Germany also ranks among the highest in health spending at 16%, placing it roughly on par with the Nordic and Benelux countries.<\/p>\n

With parliament entering budget week<\/a> and political tensions rising over pension reform<\/a>, the IW urged the government to limit further growth in state spending, especially in the social and healthcare sectors.<\/p>\n

The analysis covered public expenditure from 2001 to 2023 and compared Germany with neighbouring countries considered economically and culturally similar. Administrative costs were found to be comparatively high, increasing from 7.2% to 11% of total spending over the two decades.<\/p>\n

Education remained the weakest area. Germany spent just 9.3% of its budget on education, placing it last in the comparison and far behind Austria and Switzerland. The study also highlighted deficits in staffing levels and public investment.<\/p>\n

German coalition disputes welfare state funding<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/547nx<\/p>\n

Skip next section Welcome to our coverage<\/a>11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025Welcome to our coverage\"TwoGl\u00fchwein, the German for mulled wine, literally translates to “glow-wine”Image: Benjamin Westhoff\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Guten Tag from DW’s newsroom in Bonn,\u00a0where the mulled wine is already flowing on the city’s Christmas market stalls.<\/p>\n

Danke sch\u00f6n for joining us to find out what Germany is talking about.<\/p>\n

Among other things, a study has been released showing that Germany devotes a larger share of its public budget to social security than its close European neighbors.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0German Economic Institute, which carried out the research, warned that such costs threaten fiscal stability as lawmakers enter a tense budget week focused on pension reform.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a survey in Berlin<\/a> shows that most residents of the capital city oppose the city\u00a0bidding to host the\u00a0Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Follow us here for the latest headlines throughout the day.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/54887<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skip next section German actor Udo Kier dies at 81 11\/24\/2025November 24, 2025German actor Udo Kier dies at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-304617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}